Book Information: Command, the

David Poyer's cycle of military adventures featuring U.S. Navy officer Daniel Lenson ranks with the finest nautical fiction of our time. The Command is an exciting and timely novel that asks deep questions about honor, duty, the bonds of shipmates in combat, and the responsibilities and limits of American power in a murky and dangerous war on terror.

After receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for action in Iraq, Commander Daniel V. Lenson is given new orders: "Take over as skipper of USS Thomas W. Horn." His mission: Prepare the Tomahawk-equipped strike destroyer and her crew for the Red Sea, where she'll join an international task force searching for weapons of mass destruction.

But this will be no routine deployment. Horn will be the first U.S. Navy warship to deploy with an integrated male and female crew - a controversial and politically explosive experiment that will raise questions about morale, behavior, training, sexual attraction, and ultimately, performance under fire. Facing sandstorms, smugglers, and ambushes, Horn's increasingly polarized crew will conduct demanding, diplomatically sensitive search-and-seizure operations against foreign vessels attempting to smuggle arms to Iraq. But the real nightmare is brewing in Bahrain. There, the most dangerous bomb expert in Al-Qaeda has targeted Horn for attack - as the first step in a plan to redraw the map of the whole Middle East.

With gripping action scenes and an explosive climax, The Command continues Dan Lenson's star-crossed career in a series that explores both global and deeply personal implications of honor, duty, power, and war.